Page 9 of The Run Home
Without really thinking anything through because of said panic, I grabbed his exposed nipple and twisted.
The man yelped and managed to let me down without dumping me on the ground. I scrambled to get my feet under me, hair bun mostly on the side of my face now instead of on top of my head. Boon held his nipple, his mouth hanging open.
Even that wasn’t unattractive. Damn him.
“What the fuck, wiz?”
My hands went to my hips. “I said put me down!”
He advanced on me, crackles of lightning flashing through his eyes. “I thought you were hurt. I was helping you.”
I held my ground, nose held high in the air. “I don’t need your help, bat boy.”
“Sure looked like you did,” he snapped back. “You tripped over a fuckin’ goat.”
My mouth dropped open. He’d just gotten rammed and love bombed by the goats and you didn’t see me running around picking him up and acting like a damn fool! “You know, you should be nicer to me. I’ll be one of your daughter’s teachers.”
Boon was right on top of me now, his nostrils flaring as his chest pumped in and out with each breath. If I leaned even the slightest bit forward, we’d be touching. He paused, scanning my face before answering.
“You wouldn’t be mean to her.”
I narrowed my eyes. He didn’t know me. “Oh yeah? Willing to bet your daughter’s happiness on that?”
Boon leaned his head down just a fraction of an inch, his words now a whisper meant just for me. “Yes, because I know when push comes to shove, you can hate me all you want, but you won’t take it out on an innocent teenager.”
I opened my mouth to refute that, but he was right. Dang it. I sniffed, changing course quickly and unwilling to back down. “You’re right. Which probably comes as quite a shock. You’re not right very often. Congratulations.”
I dipped my head in some kind of weird mock bow and then darted around him, intent on getting away from the pheromones that were pumping off that man like the sound waves off a speaker at a rock concert. I could feel his hot gaze on my back the entire time it took me to make it back inside my house. I allowed myself one last glance at him before I slammed the door shut. Oddly, he was looking down at the ground, geese still squawking behind him like his own little fan club.
My back hit the door and I leaned into it, not trusting my shaking legs. I could feel my friends clustering around me, each of them about to burst at the seams.
“What…the hell…was…that?” Lydia demanded, clearly the leader of the pack.
I opened my eyes one at a time. I felt like I needed a cold shower and a long nap. Neither of which I could do with my friends here. They weren’t going to just let me shrug and change the subject. If the roles were reversed, I’d park my butt on their couch and demand answers. I let out a shaky breath and pushed off the door, headed for the living room.
“Have I mentioned how much I hate that man?” I began.
The girls all took various seats around the room and I sank into the couch.
“Yeah, so why was that so hot, then?” Hattie asked, fanning her face dramatically.
“You should totally hit that,” Lydia deadpanned.
I scoffed while Fifi and Rosemary cheered. “Seriously, this is the directive of the HAGS, baby. We’re looking for good sex, and we already voted that Boon could supply it.”
I huffed, looking around at these friends who were already falling under the Boon Wolfe spell. “No, he couldn’t! I hate him! We’d tear each other’s eyes out before the clothes came off. He’s a freaking professional athlete. The sex would be…” I swallowed hard, refusing to even imagine it in my head. “Terrible. He’d be a selfish lover, I’m sure of it.”
“I don’t know,” Rosemary answered. “I think you should give it a go and let us know if the hypothesis holds.”
“Girls!” I shouted over their excited chatter. “Did you forget the part where I said I hate him?”
“Exactly why you should fuck him.” This, of course, was from Lydia.
“Yeah, hate-fucking is hot,” Hattie added.
I rolled my eyes and immediately changed the subject. By the time they left, I had a headache, and this time, it wasn’t from the red wine.
I slept like crap, mostly because I kept waking up with night sweats due to inappropriate dreams starring a certain nemesis of mine. Dang those friends for putting R-rated visions in my head. So, I did what I always did when I was overwhelmed and stressed out. I baked.
